Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-04-22
EAGLES IN INDIANA.
THE KING or THE AIR DESCRIBED
BY AN UNFRlENDlY SCIENTIST.

The Most Cruel OF All Feathered Rob-
bers-His Cowardly Attacks ON InofIsn-
sive Animals-The Dead Tfes-An
Eagles Council.
ga great many persons, said Professor
Collett, ''who are considered well informed,
seem to think there are no eagles in Indiana
The truth is we have quite number, great
many more than we need. It was that SEN
sble old unitarian, Benjamin Franklin, who
suggested the turkey as our national bird,
Directing to the proud eagle as unrepublican,
because he had been appropriated as the en-
biem of sovereignty by number Of mon
archical powers. The poet and the seer
have given their finest fancies and inspira-
lions to honor this bird, which, after all, Is
the most cruel of all feathered robbers
Sometimes he is no daintier than the buzz
card, and will gorge himself with the vilest
carbon As to his cruelty, he takes special
delight in attacking some Of the most harm
less and innocent animals. He will pick out
the eyes of lambs, apparently more as tor
ture than for food have never heard of a
case in Indiana where man, woman or child
was attacked by an eagle. In my own
neighborhood, in Vermihon county, have
known an eagle to tear out the eyes Of a
dozen lambs, frightening the ewes and keep
ing them at distance by Tapping their
wings.
NOT COwARDLY, BUT WARY.
-s'I never knew an eagle to attack an ami
NAL that was capable of resistance Not
that mean to say he is cowardly, but he is
wary. The eagle, as commonly known, Is a
solitary, melancholy bird. He is usually
seen alone in his flights, soaring at a great
height, because his eye IS capable Of measur
ing great distances. Their nests are built of
coarse sticks or brush, not well put together,
OH the top Of an inaccessible rock or some
tall monarch of the forest It is commonly
believed that the occupation of such tree
for the nest Of an eagle causes its death;
hence, in story and in pictures the eagle nest
tree is always shown as dead tree. 1t is not
true that the eagles occupancy kills the tree,
but he chooses dead or leafess tree for the
purposes of observation. Besides, the eggs
in the nest may have enemies-not merely
animals, but birds, like jays and crows.
81 have little doubt that persons occasion
ally see eagles and mistake them for other
birds, the eagle being so rare. Perhaps,
however, many of our Oldest inhabitants
nave HOb SetIl luOIt tuuu OIlc VI TWO III u lIe-
time. 1t seems that the eagle, like the wild
red man, requires large hunting ground.
By a sort of arrangement territory of five
or ten miles square is assigned to pair of
eagles, though they do not sail in company.
They always keep the same territory and the
same nesting place.
''We have in Indiana the bald and the
golden eagles, the former the more common,
the latter extremely rare. Frequently the
females and young males Of silvered or bald
eagles are mistaken for the golden and other
species All males Of the bald family are
ornamented with white crest after attain
ing the age of 2 years. Before that age they
cannot readily be distinguished from the
females in their more somber plumage For
many years had seen but few eagles, 50 I
was surprised to learn that on an adjoining
farm to my own in Vermilion county, In
diana, within two miles of my residence,
there was bald eagle assembly-that it was
held there every night and was the center
to which eagles came from q distance Of
more than fifty miles in all directions, for
flight of fifty miles or more is nothing to
this mighty winged bird.